The original Anti-War Committee (AWC) in Chicago arose from the campaign to oppose the NATO summit held here in 2012. After a decade of war and destruction in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, the US/NATO war machine was preparing to turn next towards Syria and Iran. 15,000 demonstrators answered the call to protest and march that May, confronting not only NATO leaders but a heavy-handed police presence under the direction of Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

In the summer following the NATO summit, the AWC organized protests to mark the tenth anniversary of the Afghanistan War and marched on Boeing Headquarters to confront the military contractor for its complicity in the growing US drone-warfare program. That winter, as Israel launched its deadly 2012 assault on Gaza, the AWC joined thousands from Chicago's Palestinian community to expose Boeing for supplying Israel with F16s, Apache helicopters, missiles and depleted-uranium bombs.

After a period of inactivity for the anti-war movement, the Anti-War Committee was formally relaunched at a meeting of activists in February 2024. As Biden and other Western leaders fund genocide, act against their own citizens’ demands for peace and justice in Palestine, and inflame tensions across the Middle East and beyond, there is a desperate need for an organized anti-imperialist anti-war movement that can oppose the war criminals at every turn.

If you object to US military and economic aid to the Israeli regime, oppose the genocidal siege on Gaza, and support a free Palestine, from the river to the sea, we need your help. Please join us and help build the anti-imperialist anti-war movement in Chicago today!